Severe weather center Germany
The severe weather center Germany , based in Berlin , is operated by the private weather service MeteoGroup . The German severe weather center with a permanent team of meteorologists and severe weather specialists ensures a 24-hour supply of authorities, companies, winter services and other interested parties with precise and early severe weather warnings via SMS, email and fax. The meteorologists warn of various weather hazards such as storms and hurricanes , heavy rain , heavy fresh snow , thunderstorms , hail , freezing rain with black ice or ice accumulation, severe frost and heat stress. In addition, weather information on icy winter hazards such as freezing moisture, frost or snow is issued. Information on the affected postcode areas and cities as well as the type and severity of the expected storms is freely available on the website of the severe weather center. Additional services such as lightning detection or a precipitation radar forecast are chargeable.
Warning system
A special feature of the MeteoGroup severe weather center is the warning based on a polygon warning principle: In contrast to a rigid warning grid, there are individually definable warning areas and flexibly adjustable warning thresholds. Depending on requirements, defined areas (e.g. postcode areas, districts), lines (e.g. railway lines, power lines) or geographic coordinates (e.g. construction sites, industrial plants) can be warned not only individually, but also according to individual warning criteria.
Warning levels
The severe weather center uses a multi-level warning system, which shows the expected intensity of the severe weather. Depending on the type of storm, the warning levels are based on certain threshold values that are based on expert knowledge and many years of experience. If it becomes apparent that a threshold value has been exceeded, a warning is published. It should be noted that the threshold values are adapted to the respective location and season. For example, temperatures of −20 degrees Celsius are not uncommon for an Alpine region in winter, but it is for the lowlands.
| Warning level | Explanation | Precautions and possible consequences of the storm |
|---|---|---|
| Light green | normal weather | No |
| Dark green | Indication of unusual weather, but no storm | No; however, certain people should be careful, such as the elderly in the heat. |
| yellow | Warning, appears up to 48 hours before a possible storm. The timing, duration and intensity of the storm is still unclear. | Consider possible storms during outdoor activities. |
|
Orange |
Warning, 6 to 12 hours before the event |
|
history
The severe weather center was originally put into service by the Meteomedia weather service on January 1, 2003. Meteomedia was founded in 1990 by Jörg Kachelmann . Meteomedia has been part of MeteoGroup since September 2013 .
The concept of the severe weather center was created around the year 2000/2001, after a few severe storms hit the population by surprise and led to personal injury and serious damage to property. Upcoming severe weather events and their consequences should be better specified and the flow of information to the population should be strengthened. In 2002 the pilot and test operation of the severe weather center in Germany started.
The storm center was and is supported by public insurers under the auspices of the Bavarian Insurance Chamber and was developed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS) Berlin - formerly the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Technology (ISST). As part of WIND (Weather Information On Demand) , policyholders of public insurers benefit free of charge from the warnings from the severe weather center in Germany.
Even Spiegel Online uses the severe weather warnings for severe weather center.
internationalization
On December 6, 2006, the weather portal www.meteocentrale.ch of the severe weather center Switzerland started. Between August 2010 and March 2013, the weather and severe weather offer to Western and Northern Europe was expanded. There are now severe weather warnings for all countries in North, West and South West Europe. The warning system enables warnings to be issued in different languages.
Web links
See also
- Meteoalarm , a similar offer from EUMETNET